Doctor Who Series 12 Episode 4 - Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror - Review

Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill & Goran Visnjic

Written By: Nina Metivier

Directed By: Nida Manzoor

Remember a couple of weeks ago I said how 'Spyfall' was an awful title for, well anything? Well now we have 'Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror'. That's more like it! Seriously as schlocky, dumb B-movie titles go, they don't get much better than 'Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror'. After Series 12 has opened with three fine but ultimately not great episodes, I'm hoping we've finally got to the truly good stuff, but at the same time I'm hesitant getting my hopes up too much. That said, everything teased from this episode has caught my attention and so far the historicals have generally been the strong suit of Chris Chibnall's era. Fingers crossed! 

The TARDIS team trace an alien energy signal to Niagara Falls in 1903, where they meet scientist and inventor, Nikola Tesla. When working late at night fixing his generator, Tesla discovers an alien orb - the source of the energy signal. As the Doctor encounters Tesla, so too does a hooded figure in pursuit, wielding a Silurian energy blaster. Escaping to New York, amidst protests outside his laboratory and a rivalry with his former employer, Thomas Edison, the group work together to examine the orb and discover what an extra-terrestrial race want with Nikola Tesla, and whether it's related to the signals he claims to have received from Mars.

'Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror' follows the same basic approach of the Chibnall era's previous historicals. Namely, taking a historical figure or period not typically all that celebrated and shining a light upon it, a la 'Demons Of The Punjab' and Part 2 of 'Spyfall'. No prize for guessing that in this episode it is Tesla himself who gets his time to shine. Tesla is very much the star of his own episode, and having him appear in 'Doctor Who' makes a lot of sense considering his contributions to scientific advancement. Generally everyone tends to know of Tesla, that he was ahead of his time and to put it bluntly, did some important stuff. But the specifics of his work tend to be less well-known and the episode does enlighten you a little more on the history. Tesla is also such an endearing presence here, played wonderfully by Goran Visnjic. He gives easily one of my favourite guest performances so far this series. It was a grounded, immensely likeable take on the man himself, never veering into hero worship but instead finding a balance between a genius mind and a man struggling against funding being pulled and the realities of the time in which he lived. There's plenty of nuance in this portrayal, and while you could argue that Thomas Edison is by contrast a caricature, I wouldn't fully agree with that. While he definitely is on paper, there's a little more fine tuning in Robert Glenister's performance, especially towards the end.

Many of the best moments from this episode revolve around Tesla, and the scenes between him and the Doctor are just so lovely to watch. The Doctor gets to somewhat play the fan-girl, meeting such a renowned scientific figure, and it was a great moment when she's excited to enter Tesla's lab but is underwhelmed by the reality of it. Not only does Goran Visnjic give a fantastic performance, so too does Jodie Whittaker, and in fact this may be one of her best so far in the role. The conversation between the Doctor and Tesla, as Tesla plans to hand himself over to save the Earth is a brilliant one. There's such a wholesome relationship between the two and it's so rewarding watching it unfold.

Around halfway through, we're properly introduced to the alien threat stalking Tesla - the scorpion-like Skithra. Although they've been received fairly well on the whole, I have seen a couple of complaints such as that they're just generic, snarly 'Doctor Who' aliens or that the episode would've been better without them as a pure historical. Both are valid enough arguments, but I personally disagree. The Skithra are an integral part of what makes this episode so good. They have the appearance of a generic 'Doctor Who' monster but that's partly the point. In an episode that revolves around the rivalry between Tesla and Edison - one who's in it for science and the other who's in it for business - the whole conceit behind the Skithra is a great extension of this. The episode quite clearly comes out in support of innovation and advancement, and then along come the Skithra - a race who plunder leftovers and appropriate other people's work for themselves. They're the perfect antagonists for an episode like this. Better still, this theme of rehashing old concepts and parts bleeds into a metatextual level. The Skithra Queen is played by Anjli Mohindra, who previously played Rani in 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' and plenty of people have been quick to point out the Queen's resemblance to the Racnoss Empress from 'The Runaway Bride'. I seriously doubt this casting and design choice is purely coincidental, I think the production team knew what they were doing with this. 

It also doesn't do any harm to mention how the Skithra look amazing. For a bunch of CGI alien scorpions, they look brilliant and the prosthetics work on the Queen is superb. Not to mention, Mohindra is clearly having a blast going completely over-the-top and entering 100% villain mode - she's great! It's not just the Skithra who have all the looks either - the episode as a whole is gorgeous. Beginning in Niagara Falls and later arriving in the streets of early 20th Century New York, it all looks top notch and a wonderful recreation of the historical period. The apocalyptic greys that dominated last week's episode are exchanged for colours that pop a lot more this week - the icy blue alternate lighting inside the TARDIS, the red and greens aboard the Skithra ship, I just love the look of this episode. Segun Akinola's music also stood out this week, especially the theme that plays when we're first introduced to the Skithra Queen. It's an assault on the ears in a good way, with so many different sounds colliding to heighten the sense of threat. Throw in some great direction from Nida Manzoor as well and you've got a polished production on your hands.

If there's any aspect of 'Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror' that lets the side down, it's definitely the companions. Once again, they appear to have been sidelined and given very little to do. Surprisingly the only real exception to this is Yaz. Yaz gets more to do than usual this week, getting to spend time with Tesla and even getting abducted with him to the Skithra ship. As for Graham and Ryan - they're barely here. An incidental little detail I did like was how for some reason Graham and Edison seemed to have some sort of personal rivalry going on. It's never explained or explicitly brought up, but it was a fun detail. But on the whole, neither get much to do, especially Ryan. Luckily as I've said, the Doctor is on top form here and away from her scenes with Tesla, Whittaker dominates the screen whenever she confronts the Skithra. Her sudden appearance to recover Yaz and Tesla from the ship has this air of trumph and heroism surrounding it and just had me grinning. Plus the 13th Doctor's dark side put in an appearance again, as she tells the Skithra Queen: "When you die, they'll be nothing left behind. Just a trail of blood and other people's brilliance. No-one will even know you existed". Damn, Doctor. Don't hold back, huh? It's a line delivered with so much venom and disgust, I loved it! 

Overall, 'Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror' was the episode I really needed Series 12 to deliver. Enjoyable as they were, both 'Spyfall' and 'Orphan 55' had plenty of problems and I think I needed something more solid to really get onboard with this series. Thankfully that's exactly what I got, this was a fun time and very solid too. It's not quite "classic" territory or anything, but it's easily the strongest story of the series so far. Interestingly after my first viewing, I learnt that writer Nina Metivier worked as a script editor on Series 11, and in hindsight that experience really shows through. The episode knows its limits, doesn't try and tackle too many ideas at once, it moves at a decent pace and gradually introduces new pieces and story threads to a keep a viewer engaged. Not only thoroughly entertaining, but efficient too.

Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror

8/10